Screen Captures Courtesy of Swoopes For personal use and select distribution only © March 2002 by Amber Stockton Dead Ringer - tagalogueWritten by Juanita Bartlett (excerpts from the episode belong to her)
"Lee, I know you think you owe me something, but, um..." She paused to put a tissue to her nose and sniff. "I think I'm catching Mother's cold, I want to go home." Lee's smiled faded. "Oh." He coughed, discreetly at first, then again more loudly. "Excuse me." Amanda looked at him in understanding. "You, too?" "Yeah." He coughed again and Amanda smiled. "Excuse me. "That's all right." As he recovered from the coughing spell, his lips formed into a sly grin, and he looked at Amanda. "Guess what?" "What?" He leaned in closer to her and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "If it'll make you feel any better...Magda's got it, too." He laughed. She chuckled and replied with a big smile on her face, "Heaven." They both broke into another coughing spell, and as soon as they recovered, Lee reached out and nodded in the direction of the door. "Come on, I'll drive you home." He placed his hand at her back and guided her through the throngs of people at the party. Before they reached the door, they were interrupted by Phyllis. "Lee! Fancy meeting you at one of these parties, again. Twice in the same week. My luck must be changing!" Lee cleared his throat and smiled patiently at her. "Uh, Phyllis, I'm sorry, but now's not a good time. We were just leaving. Mrs. King is coming down with a cold and needs to get home." Amanda could tell he was trying hard to contain another coughing spell, but talking wasn't helping. Phyllis looked from Amanda to Lee. Her smile froze on her face, and Amanda realized what she thought at noticing both of them were sick. "Oh, I understand. I should have realized when the flowers you normally send didn't arrive yesterday, like you promised," she said coldly. "I hope you and Mrs. King," Phyllis said with disdain as she looked at Amanda, "get well soon." She turned and walked off. "Phyllis!" Lee started to call to stop her but raising his voice caused more coughing. He sighed in exasperation. "Ahhh!" "I think that's one name you can scratch out of your little black book." Amanda found her voice and teased him a impish grin. Part of her inwardly gloated at the fact that there was one less woman in Lee's book, but she'd never tell him that. Lee turned to watch Phyllis, then turned back around. "You're not kidding!" He nodded again towards the door. "Come on." * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * The silver Porsche came to a stop, and Lee shut off the engine. Amanda looked at the house and saw that everything was dark, then turned to face him. "Look, why don't you come inside. It looks like no one is home, so Mother probably took the boys out for pizza to celebrate her getting over her cold. She gets cabin fever very easily and has to get out, and they'll most likely be gone for another hour. I feel really bad about you catching Mother's cold, and I have some medicine inside that you can take that will help with it." "Amanda, I don't need..." "No arguments." She waved her hand in a way that said the subject was closed. He sighed, obviously realizing it was futile to argue with her, then got out and walked around to her side and opened the door for her. She took his outstretched hand and stepped from the car. As soon as she did, they were both assaulted by a coughing fit and turned away from each other until they had themselves under control. After she cleared her throat, she dangled his keys from her hand. "These are yours. You left them in the ignition." Lee took the keys from her and glanced back at his car, then gestured for Amanda to head for the house. Amanda used her key to open the front door, then preceded Lee inside. She led him into the living room and flipped on a light. Lee followed when she went directly into the kitchen. She could feel his gaze on her as she pulled out two tea cups and a bottle of honey, turned on the burner under the tea kettle and opened a canister to get two tea bags to place in the cups. Next, she pulled out a pot, placed it on the stove and reached into the refrigerator to retrieve a grapefruit. She filled the pot about halfway with water and set it to boil. Then, she took a knife, cut slits in the grapefruit and set it aside. Lee took a seat on one of the stools at the counter. "Is this something you do for your boys when they're sick?" "Oh gosh, no!" She turned around to face him. "They would never drink tea, and they'll only eat grapefruit if it's mixed with other fruit or in a juice drink. No, I usually give them vitamin C chewables and make sure they eat very well. If they're running a fever, they get lots of water. If they're congested, I put some vapor rub on them to help them breathe." He grinned. "Sounds like they're in very good hands." She ducked her head in embarrassment and turned back around to finish her tasks. "Well, they're no fun when they're sick. They like to be out playing and running, so I do what I can to help them through it so they can get out there sooner." The water in the pot was beginning to boil, so Amanda took the grapefruit and placed it in the pot. "Can I ask what you're doing?" "What am I doing?" She turned to face him again. "Oh, it's something my grandmother used to do since they didn't have Vitamin C tablets you could take. She would also do this with oranges and even Acerola cherries. You boil the fruit with the rinds to extract the vitamin C in all of it and have the water to dilute it some. Mother used up the Vitamin C from the drugstore, and I didn't think we'd need any more so soon, so I'm improvising." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled. He was clearly impressed. "How very inventive!" He unbuttoned his tux jacket and reached up to remove his bowtie, then undid the top button at his throat. "I really don't need all of this, though. I can go back to my apartment, and..." "And what?" She tried to take her mind off of his current actions and how good he looked in the tux. "Are you going to try to tell me that you keep a stock of the necessary vitamins and medicines for the simple cold or fever?" She pinned him with a look. "Well..." "Because I haven't met a single man yet who does, and I've seen your apartment. You barely keep enough food in there to stay alive, let alone thinking of medicine. Just what do you do when you get sick? I'm sure you do at some point." Lee paused, and Amanda could imagine the string of women who would willingly nurse him back to health. He cleared his throat, then croaked, "I manage." At that moment, the tea kettle whistled, and Lee sighed. Amanda knew he was grateful he didn't have to explain any further. She shut off the hot burner and lifted the tea kettle over the cups to pour the hot liquid into them. After dunking the tea bags several times, she let them sit for a couple of minutes to steep, then took a spoon and stirred the grapefruit in the pot. He coughed again. "What kind of tea is that?" "Lemon. Mixed with a little bit of honey, it works wonders on a sore throat, something I think we both could use about now." She turned her head to cough, saw Lee's nose twitch and watched him take a couple of short breaths, so she grabbed a tissue from the box on the counter and held it out to him. He managed a "Thank you" just as the sneeze hit him. Once he recovered, Amanda snatched a tissue as well. "God bless you!" They spoke in unison and smiled at each other. Amanda turned back to the tea cups and took out two spoons to use for stirring. She opened the bottle of honey and squeezed some into the cups, then mixed that with the lemon tea and threw the tea bags in the garbage. Carefully, she carried them to the counter and joined Lee on the other stool, then lifted her tea cup to his in a toast. "Drink up!" He clinked his cup with hers, and she watched him take a tentative sip at the same time she did, careful not to burn her mouth. "You know, I think the only consolation I have with feeling like this is knowing that Magda is sick, too." She grinned. Lee chuckled. "Yeah, I know what you mean," he rasped. "Sort of like poetic justice in a way, her paying the price for treating you and your family the way she did." "I still can't believe she said what she did to Philip. Mother even excused herself after that remark to go back upstairs, and this was not two minutes after she said she didn't like it up there." She tried hard to suppress another cough, but turned her head when she couldn't. "Excuse me." "Well, in Hungary, the way Magda behaved and what she said is normal." His voice was strained, and he barely managed to finish the sentence before coughing again. "Excuse me. She and her mother and sister are gonna have a rough time getting used to things here." "It's a good thing they're relocated somewhere else. I had a hard enough time having Magda here. If her mother and sister are like her, they'd better stay far away from this house." Lee laughed, but stopped to cough and just grinned, then took another drink of his tea. Amanda did the same, then stood to stir the grapefruit once more. She tested the consistency and found it ready, so she took two more cups down and poured just a little bit of the liquid into them, then placed the pot back on the stove and turned off the burner. "Now, you only need a little bit of this, and it's strong, so don't say I didn't warn you," she explained and set the cups on the counter. "I can think of something else that strong that I'd rather be drinking right now, and tea and boiled grapefruit are not it!" "Well, I'm sorry, but I don't keep a regular stock of fine and imported wines, and they serve no purpose when you're sick." She cleared her throat to avoid another fit of coughing. "Dulling pain, yes. Helping your constitution a little, yes. Providing any benefit to a cold, no. So, since I don't have any here, you'll have to make do with what I do have." Lee lifted his cup. "Here's to medicinal cures." He closed his eyes as he drank. Amanda saw him scrunch his eyes tighter as he swallowed and couldn't help but grin. She already knew what the stuff tasted like and didn't like it either, but it really did work wonders. Not wanting to prolong the agony of enduring the bad taste, she quickly drank hers in a few gulps and set the cup back on the counter. Lee managed to get his down as well and placed his cup next to hers. "I hope that's all you're gonna give me, because I can't take any more of it." She laughed. "That's all. I promise. Now, drink the rest of your tea." "Yes, ma'am!" A teasing glint appeared in his eyes as he raised the cup to his lips. In just two more gulps, he finished his tea, then stood and carried his two cups to the sink. Amanda did the same and turned on the water to wash them, and explained, "I can't have Mother coming home and seeing this many cups. She'll know someone else was here." "I'll help dry, then." In a couple of minutes, everything was cleaned and put away. Lee tossed the towel on the counter. "I think I should be going. Thank you, Amanda, for the tea and the ... uh ... boiled grapefruit." He grinned as he walked into the living room, grabbed his overcoat from the back of the couch and slipped his arms into it. As he stepped onto the landing and walked towards the front door, he covered his mouth to hide another coughing fit and a sneeze. Amanda followed and stood with him in the foyer. "God bless you. Are you gonna be all right going home?" "I'll be fine, Amanda." He reached to open the door. "My apartment's only fifteen minutes from here, and I'm congested, not delirious." She ducked her head, and he added, "I appreciate you worrying about me, though. I do feel better than I did when we got here." "Well, it's a proven cure." She held up a paper bag to him, and at his questioning gaze, she explained. "It's a couple of lemon tea bags and honey, for your throat." He started to protest but she interrupted him. "Don't say it," she rasped and turned her head to cough. "You're just as sick as I am, and I'll feel better if you take this with you." He smiled and took the bag, then replied, "Thank you. I should go before your mother comes back with the boys. I know how you feel about lying." He grinned and stepped out onto the front porch, then snapped his fingers as if he just remembered something and turned to face her. "Oh, Magda mentioned something to me when we were getting her and her family set up with their new identities, and I wanted to clear up something." She raised her eyebrows and he reached for the doorknob. "My hair always looks great. I make sure of it!" He grinned and a winked as he pulled the door closed behind him. Amanda stood there for a moment and stared at the closed door, hearing him cough and sneeze as he walked away. Then, it dawned on her what he had just said and her eyes widened in disbelief. Everything she had said in the kitchen to Magda came back with blinding clarity and she felt the heat rise to her face. Uh...sure, well, yes, he's, uh, got nice hair, it's not great hair, but it's nice hair, he's tall. Uh, straight nose, and uh, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful eyes. Pretty eyes, really. She put her face in her hands and moaned. "How am I going to face him again?" She brought a tissue to her nose as she sneezed again, then coughed, so she walked back into the kitchen to make herself another cup of lemon-honey tea, her mind whirling with questions. How much did Magda tell him and how could she have done this to her? What would he think of her now? Would this going to have any affect on their working relationship? The first inkling of a headache began to make its presence known, and Amanda knew that now was not the time to worry about this. She most likely wouldn't see him for a few days, anyway. Hopefully by that time, he would have forgotten about anything Magda told him, and things could go back to normal. Once her tea was ready, she carried it over to the couch and sat down, then took a pillow to place behind her head. She closed her eyes and drank the tea and couldn't help but think of those eyes, that hair, that face, not to mention how he had looked tonight. As she finished her tea then leaned back against the pillow, a smile formed on her lips. Her dreams were going to be very sweet tonight. (THE END) |
